The interventional therapeutics of irreversible electroporation for pancreatic cancer

Irreversible electroporation (IRE) is a kind of focal ablation technique applied in the treatment of various malignant tumors. It is a nonthermal ablation technique that causes cell death by delivering a series of brief and intense electric pulses that puncture the cell membrane and break their integrity. During IRE, those electric pulses only have a severe impact on the cells in the ablation zone and will not cause damage of surrounded vital structures like vessels and bile ducts. IRE does not have side effects like “heat sink” common in other traditional focal ablation techniques. For pancreatic tumors, which are always adjacent to or surrounded by some vital tissue, IRE could be a safe and effective ablative choice.